Goodnights Comedy Club — Restaurant in Raleigh

It's a shame what has happened to this once-great Triangle institution. The new Management team is horrendous and isn't even located in North Carolina, much less in Raleigh. I recently tried to order two tickets to a show three months in advance along with two other couples who were also going to order two apiece. I apparently ordered the last two, because immediately after I ordered mine the show was displayed as sold out and my friends were unable to get theirs. No problem, I said I would call in the morning and get mine switched to a different show time so we could all still go together. Boy was I in for a treat.

Their website steers you to an online chat with a representative who was extremely rude, unhelpful, and lacked the authority to help in any way whatsoever. She said it was their policy not to offer any refunds or exchanges and this was detailed in the venue policy I accepted when I purchased (it 100% was not, as I've read it several times). I even explained that it was completely the fault of their software for not alerting me that there were only 2 tickets left or I obviously never would have purchased the tickets to begin with. I wasn't even asking for a refund. I simply wanted to exchange them for a different showtime. I was essentially told, "tough luck."

After five minutes of unpleasantness, she finally gave me the email of the management team. It has now been 7 days since I emailed them and I have not heard back. I called 3 days ago and spoke with an employee on-site who was more friendly but again unauthorized to help in any way. She just said to email the out-of-state management team again (so I did) and hopefully they would respond. They still haven't. We ended up ordering six more tickets to the different showtime, and I have even offered to simply take two additional tickets to that show rather than ask for a refund (Hello, Profit $$$) on my original two, but I still haven't heard back from anyone.

It's a shame that a soulless, off-site management company has taken control of this once-proud Raleigh institution and is unable to apply even a modicum of common sense policies that would result in more profit for them while simultaneously keeping a long-time customer satisfied.

This has been an extremely disappointing experience and I would highly encourage anyone looking for good stand-up comedy in the Triangle to consider going to Raleigh Improv in Cary instead.

EDIT: The below response from the "Owner" is more than likely a lie. After emailing the management team four different times I finally received the following curt reply this week:

"Our customer service rep acted within our policy. All of our sales are final, no refunds or exchanges unless the ticket protection is purchased. Since you opted not to purchase the insurance we cannot offer a credit or refund at this time."

My note: I'm not asking for a refund. We already bought six tickets to the earlier showtime so we could all go together. I am just requesting these two tickets to be transferred to the show we're going to and I'll find two other friends to go with us. Instead of the original six we needed I am willing to take on the additional two, thereby giving Goodnight's more money and keeping a long-time customer satisfied. This shouldn't be complicated, but no one there seems to be able to apply any common sense whatsoever to solve the problem.

I will update if I hear back from the Owner, but I won't hold my breath. This show is for Anthony Jeselnik. They're going to sell all of the showtimes out very soon, and I could easily sell the tickets for more than I paid for them, but I prefer not to do that as a courtesy to other fans of...

Let me start by saying I’ve been a loyal Goodnights customer for years. I go once or twice a month and have always loved this place for comedy, which is why this review is only about the bizarre service I experienced on 10/17 at the Ryan Davis show.

We were seated about 15 minutes before showtime. A waitress approached us and asked if we were ready to order. I said yes—two Old Fashioneds and a Malibu Barbie. She looked at her notepad and said, “Oh, I can’t take your order, this isn’t my section,” and then immediately took the table right next to us. Fine, we assumed our actual server would be right over.

But no one ever came.

She continued taking drink orders for her entire section while the show started. About 10 minutes in, she returned with drinks for her tables, so we politely stopped her and asked if she could let our server know to come by. She said yes, then actively avoided our table and eye contact for the rest of her rounds.

Another 15 minutes passed. Still no server. At this point, my girlfriend had to get up, miss nearly 5–8 minutes of the show, and go to the bar herself just so we’d have something to drink. By the time she returned, the opening act was finishing.

Finally—during the headliner’s set—a waitress shows up to our table with an attitude and asks what we want. I told her we already went to the bar because no one ever came. She immediately responds with, “Well, there’s a two-drink minimum.” I pointed to the table, where we clearly had three drinks already. She insisted I still needed to “buy something,” so I said fine—just bring waters so we can meet the requirement. I wasn’t going to argue during the show.

She comes back—not with waters—but with a bill for waters. No drinks in sight. I asked, “Where are the waters?” and she said, “This is all I can give you.” At that point, I was furious. I told her I’d pay it, but she was ruining the show. She then balled up the bill, tossed it on the table, and said, “You know what, don’t even worry about it.”

I honestly couldn’t believe it. I looked at my girlfriend like, is this real? But I let it go because I genuinely wanted to see Ryan Davis and didn’t want to cause a scene.

To be clear—this is NOT how Goodnights normally is. I’ve had countless great nights here. But this was one of the most unprofessional, disrespectful service experiences I’ve ever had anywhere. I left angry, not at the comedians or the club itself, but at how this situation was handled.

Goodnights, I love your venue. But this night needs to...

This was my first time at Goodnights and it was a horrible experience. I have never in my life experienced such horrendous service. We came to the 10pm show on Saturday to see Bill Bellamy. To begin we had reservations at the Factory downstairs, the plan was to enjoy dinner before the show. We get seated only to be told you can only order appetizers and dessert because they don't have any of the entrees. The waitress was also subpar, she took so long to get to us that the host actually came an apologized for the wait, it took 30 minutes to get a glass of water, after she gave my glass to a table who didn't order it. Now on to the show. We get escorted to our seats, we place a drink order, this waitress was really nice by the way, we're waiting when a staff member asks us to move up 2 seats, we oblige. Then about 10 minutes later another staff member comes and ask to see my tickets, mind you this is the second time. He proceeds to tell me that we have to move somebody reserved these specific seats. I told him that's not true, there is no seating chart when you purchase and we had already moved once to accommodate another group. This guy was the rudest person I have every encountered in customer service, he begins to insinuate we sat ourselves there and tries to keep my tickets. I had to request the manager 3 times before he would comply. The manager comes over and basically insinuates that we just sat ourselves and had to move. By this point it's a huge commotion because the original guy was being very rude, yelling at my boyfriend and telling us we have to leave or he will call the police, mind you he isn't the manager and she is telling him to walk away. Finally the manager asks, did you eat in the restaurant, we say yes, she asks to see my receipt, she proceeds to say, oh well you can sit here, we just have to check because people lie about eating in the restaurant. Are you freaking serious, so we sat ourselves, we're liars, and your employee is making the situation 10 times worse to the point it could have been a physical altercation. I won't recommend this place to anyone. The show was great but the service is horrific. And word of advice, you need to fire that guy who escorted Bill to the stage, his behavior was unprofessional and completely inappropriate. And I will be following up about this situation and posting this review on...